Revealing the Critics’ Choice: #12

The countdown has started towards the release of the new book, The Critics’ Choice: Australia’s best beers, with the revelation that Coopers Best Extra Stout is number 12 in the top 100.

Lists are notorious things. In the wake of the controversy surrounding the results of Local Taphouses’ Hottest 100 in January, many pundits suggested it would be interesting to see how the critics’ list compared and today’s the announcement already shows a departure. Coopers Best Extra didn’t even rate a mention in the Local Taphouses’ poll. By contrast, it featured in a similar position (#13) in the RateBeer top 50. It will be fascinating to watch as the Top 12 is revealed and is sure to inspire even more debate.

Contributing critic Ian Watson describes Coopers Best Extra Stout as ‘a true Australian classic and a beer that should be considered amongst the very models of the Foreign/Export/Extra Stout types.’

As beer is such a subjective topic, The Critics’ Choice: Australia’s Best Beers is sure to cause many a bar stool debate and more than a little interstate rivalry but life would be pretty dull if we all agreed on everything, wouldn’t it?

The Critics’ Choice: Australia’s Best Beers
RRP $14.95
Available from bookstores & newsagents from April 1, 2011

We’re giving readers a chance to win one of four copies of The Critics Choice: Australia’s Best Beers. Just tell us in the comments below which beer you think should be the choice for Australia’s best beer. Winners will be chosen at random from the comments.

8 Responses to Revealing the Critics’ Choice: #12

Even if I could pretend that I didn’t know what beers finished in the Top 12 I’d still enjoy the rationale and the reasoning that good beer people are employing to pick their best. When the book comes out I think my Introduction and explanation of the voting system will make Brew Matt happy!

I also think I might need to get a few ABN readers onto the panel for next year. We are hoping to rotate a few each year just to give all the brewers a go!

The skeptic in me suggests an interesting yet accessible, in terms of actual availability and not too overbearing, beer such as Stone and Wood Pacific Ale or Little Creatures Pale Ale.
The optimist in me hopes it’s Feral Hop Hog as it’s an awesome beer made by a true craft brewery. Bridge Road Saison would also be a top beer but is probably disadvantaged by it’s limited availability.
Either way this book is a great step in the right direction for the promotion of craft beer in Australia and inevitably the promotion of Australian craft beer the world over.

Both good calls, funnily enough in my experience outside of WA and Melbourne, Bridge Road Saison is more easily available than Feral Hop Hog and so Hop Hog may be the one disadvantaged by limited availability.

To many, beer is much more than a drink, but more a religion. So maybe the best answer to the question “which beer should be the choice for Australia’s best beer?”, lies in the wise words of the Dalai Llama, who says “Faith is like a toothbrush. Every person should have their own”, and maybe as everyone has their own set of tastebuds Australia’s best beer should be the one that each of us clutch & appreciate at the end of the day…